A survey taken during Monday’s Big 12 coaches conference call found most of the league’s coaches are concerned about how much information is available on popular social-networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The major concern: Users can voluntarily provide personal information, and the more popular the athletes, the more contact “with hundreds of people they don’t know,” Iowa State coach Gene Chizik.

In the status update section of his Facebook page, Burnette posted, “All the hunters gather up, we have a (slur) in the White House,” in reference to Obama’s becoming the first African-American elected to the presidency. Burnette said the comment was a text message he received from a friend and that he exercised bad judgment posting it on his page. He later apologized in a written note that was read by Brown during a team meeting.

Brown said he would prefer players not have personal Web pages, but he can’t ban them. He does warn players to be careful about what kind of information and photos they post.

A review by the Houston Chronicle of the 60 players listed on the Longhorns’ two-deep depth chart showed only four players with active Facebook accounts.

“It’s a public right they have as students,” Brown said. “We have told them that we would rather they not have them, and we’ve told them that they need to obviously not put anything on there that their mom wouldn’t want to see.”

Asked if he were worried the racial slur could divide his team, Brown cut off the question.

“Folks, I’m not going there at all,” he said. “I’m through.”

That didn’t stop several high-profile Texas players from discussing the incident for the first time Monday.

“That stuff will get you in trouble,” said Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo, a senior from Lamar High School. “Our main thing is to stay low-key and not put your business on the Internet where everybody can see.”

Added Orakpo: “I thought it was handled appropriately. I thought the coaches did a good job handling the situation. My prayers are for him, but we’ve got to move on. Guys have got to make better decisions for their future.”

Junior quarterback Colt McCoy said Burnette was “extremely sincere” in his apology to the team and “did not want to be a distraction” as the Longhorns pursue a possible national championship. In a statement released to the media after the incident, Burnette said he made a “terrible decision” and “those that know me understand that this is not a true reflection of my character.”

Longhorns moving on

Senior wide receiver Quan Cosby spoke with Burnette after the incident but declined to say what was discussed.

“Regardless of what happens, we’re all like family out there and pull for each other when we do things that we probably shouldn’t,” Cosby said. ““It was handled, and we moved on.”

McCoy said the incident was not a distraction for the fourth-ranked Longhorns, who beat Baylor on Saturday and remain in the national title picture.

“I did not for a second think that it was going to be a distraction,” he said. “Buck was extremely sincere. Everybody knows Buck. We’re all so close. It’s been tough for everybody across the board.”

Jennifer Kearns, a spokeswoman for the NCAA, said there are specific rules that prevent coaches, boosters, sports agents and others from communicating with prospective student-athletes via social networking sites. For example, posting a message on a prospective student-athlete’s “wall” on Facebook is not allowed, she said.

“The NCAA does encourage member schools to educate student-athletes (on) responsible use of social networking sites, but it is ultimately up to the individual schools to decide what policies to implement for student-athletes and students in general,” Kearns said.

“We remind them that anything they put on there is going to be public, so make sure you’re smart about it,” Stoops said.

Two of the most popular features on Facebook are the “status update,” which allows users to stay in contact with friends, family and colleagues by posting thoughts, opinions or messages once or several times a day.

While Facebook has privacy features that limit who can see profile pages, many college students ignore them and provide a variety of personal information.

Facebook, which made its debut in 2004, has more than 120 million active users, according to the Web site of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company.

“This day and age, they just live on that stuff,” Chizik said. “We just try and educate them on the evils of it.”

Leach among users

The social network scene is not just for college athletes. Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has a MySpace page, where under his profile you can learn his favorite movie is Rio Bravo; his interests are throwing stuff, football and pirate history; and his annual salary is $250,000 and higher. Among Leach’s 2,372 “friends” are Florida State coach Bobby Bowden and Florida coach Urban Meyer.

Texas Tech senior quarterback Graham Harrell has seen an increase in popularity the last two weeks following wins over Texas and Oklahoma State. Harrell said his Facebook account recently maxed out at 5,000 friends.

“I don’t get on (the site) anymore because it got a little overwhelming. I can’t really keep up with it anymore,” Harrell said. “To add a new friend, I have to delete an old one. That doesn’t seem fair, but that’s the way it goes.”